Op-ed - Prosecutors: Ky. capital punishment unfair

Prosecutors: Ky. capital punishment unfair

Of the 78 people sentenced to death in Kentucky since 1976, 50 have had a death sentence overturned on appeal by Kentucky or federal courts because of significant legal errors. That is an unacceptable error rate of more than 60 percent.

Kentucky's justice system is at an historic moment. As a matter of basic fairness, we must pause to understand and reform the way capital punishment is administered in our state.

Each of us is a current or former prosecutor, some of whom have prosecuted capital cases in our commonwealth.

As prosecutors, we continue to believe that heinous criminal conduct must be punished severely in a way that advances public safety.

However, punishment must be a result of a fair process that produces valid results in which we have full confidence. It is time to suspend executions in Kentucky until the reforms recommended by a groundbreaking professional study are implemented.

This column is signed by John L. "Jack" Smith, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; Alexander T. "Sandy" Taft, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; Stephen B. Pence, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky and former Lt. Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; Marc S. Murphy, former Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney; Michael J. "Mike" O'Connell, Jefferson County Attorney; Joe Gutmann, former Jefferson County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney; Scott C. Cox, former Assistant U.S. Attorney; Larry D. Simon, former Jefferson County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney; Will Collins, former Letcher County Commonwealth's Attorney; Jeffrey A. Darling, former Fayette County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney; J. Stewart Schneider, former Boyd County Commonwealth's Attorney.

Suspend State's Death Penalty Lottery - Op-Ed by Ernie Lewis

Suspend State's Death Penalty Lottery

When I became Kentucky's public advocate in 1996, one of the first things I did was to call on policy makers to follow the American Bar Association's call for a moratorium on executions. I'd been a public defender for 19 years and, after handling numerous capital cases, had seen firsthand that the death penalty was broken beyond repair.

In 12 years as public advocate, everything I saw reinforced that view. I saw the death penalty was being used against the poor, people with mental retardation and mental illness, as well as people of color. I saw that many lawyers defending capital defendants were not qualified and that the death penalty was used in some counties but not in others.

The problems with the death penalty are once again staring us in the face. A group of prominent Kentuckians, including two former Supreme Court justices, has spent the last two years conducting an in-depth study of how the death penalty works in our state.

Suspend Kentucky executions until system is reformed - Louisville Courier Journal Op-Ed

Suspend Kentucky executions until system is reformed: Ensuring justice must be our primary concern

As officers of the court and members of the bench and bar, we have a duty to uphold the law. We also have an obligation to use our skills, talents and expertise to ensure the fair administration of justice. We take that commitment very seriously. After reviewing too many areas in which we fall short in protecting against wrongful conviction and failing to ensure fair and accurate procedures, we agree with the team’s unanimous recommendation.

We are hopeful that our detailed report and analysis will be a call to action for reform of the death penalty system.

In Kentucky, we must reserve capital punishment for the most heinous of offenses and offenders; we have to make sure that we are getting it right. We owe the citizens of this commonwealth no less.

The Op-Ed is authored by Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III, president of the American Bar Association and former president of the Kentucky Bar Association and James E. Keller and Martin E. Johnstone, former Kentucky Supreme Court justices and members of the Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Team.

read the complete article

Call for Moratorium on Executions

KY Public Advocate and Louisville Metro Chief Public Defender Endorse the Call for a Moratorium on Executions and the Expeditious Implementation of the Reforms recommended by the ABA Assessment of the Kentucky Death Penalty

(Frankfort, Kentucky, December 7, 2011) Kentucky Public Advocate Ed Monahan and Louisville Metro Chief Public Defender Dan Goyette echoed today’s call by the American Bar association and the Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Team for a suspension of executions in Kentucky until the recommendations in its December 7, 2011 report are fully implemented. Over the last two years, the Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Team objectively reviewed the fairness, accuracy and reliability of Kentucky’s system for administering the death penalty. The review is thorough and scholarly. It was conducted by experienced, highly respected Kentucky criminal justice experts. It is a fact-based analysis supported by comprehensive, detailed evidence. It found major deficiencies that undermine the integrity of the system.


Today, Goyette and Monahan sent a request to the Governor asking that he not sign any execution warrants until the study’s reforms are put into effect. A similar request was submitted to the Attorney General asking that he not seek any execution warrants until the Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Team recommendations are enacted.

See full press release here.

For more information and supporting documents, click here.

ABA Press Release - The Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Report

Kentucky Legal Team Identifies Problems With Commonwealth’s Death Penalty System, Calls for Moratorium on Executions

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 7, 2011 — A two-year review of Kentucky’s system of capital punishment concludes that the commonwealth doesn’t adequately ensure fairness or sufficiently guard against executing the innocent.  The report, released today by the American Bar Association, calls for a suspension of executions in Kentucky until the identified problems are addressed and corrected.

The Kentucky-based assessment team was comprised of former state Supreme Court judges, a state legislator, state bar leaders, law school professors and other lawyers from the commonwealth.  The team also consulted with a number of state government and judicial entities, law enforcement and criminal justice groups.

“The assessment team in Kentucky is an esteemed group of highly dedicated individuals who are committed to ensuring justice,” said ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III, a native of the state.  “The report provides a thorough analysis of the death penalty system, and identifies many areas that need reform,” he said.

The report evaluates Kentucky’s laws, rules, procedures, standards and guidelines relating to administration of the death penalty, and uses 92 benchmarks set by the ABA to evaluate death penalty jurisprudence.  The report found that Kentucky is in full compliance with six protocols, partial compliance with 40 and not in compliance with 26.  The team did not have sufficient information to assess compliance with 20 of the benchmarks.

Assessment team co-chair Linda Ewald, professor emeritus at Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, says that the system in Kentucky does not adequately assure that capital defendants receive fair treatment.  “The problems with the death penalty system are substantial, and need to be addressed so that we also minimize the risk of executing the innocent,” she said.

The report identified the following issues as most in need of reform:

  • Inadequate protections to guard against wrongful convictions
  • Inconsistent and disproportionate capital charging and sentencing
  • Deficiencies and inadequate funding of the capital defender system
  • Inadequacies in post-conviction review to correct error
  • Capital juror confusion
  • Imposition of a death sentence on people with mental retardation and severe mental disability
  • Overall lack of data keeping on capital charging and sentencing practices

The report recommends several measures to bring the commonwealth into compliance with ABA protocols, including state-specific measures to address the issues raised in the 438-page report.  The team is recommending a suspension of executions in the commonwealth until problematic issues are rectified.

The report notes that Kentucky has made some progress in seeking to achieve fairness and accuracy in its administration of the death penalty.  Those measures include: the establishment of a statewide capital defender to represent indigent capital defendants and death row inmates; adoption of a post-conviction DNA testing statute to minimize the risk of executing the innocent; and adoption of a racial justice act that seeks to eliminate racial and ethnic bias in application of the death penalty in the commonwealth.

The full report and executive summary are available here.

In 2003, the ABA’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project, housed in the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, began several comprehensive evaluations of the death penalty, like the one conducted in Kentucky.  The ABA has examined administration of the death penalty in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.  The Project expects to release additional reports on Missouri, Texas and Virginia.  The reports have not been adopted by the ABA House of Delegates.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.